


It Started With a Kiss

by JustMyType



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Phrack Fucking Friday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-04 08:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17301158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustMyType/pseuds/JustMyType





	1. Melbourne, Australia

_Melbourne, 1954_

He withdrew his tongue as he felt her release overpower her and used his lips to place a gentle kiss on the inside of her thigh as her body shook with orgasm. This time, as every time, he tried to take in their surroundings, he wanted to remember everything about the moment. No matter how many times he had been in just this situation he still savoured it as he had the first time. The scent of her arousal, the softness of her skin. The sounds of the world just beginning to come back to life on the street outside. The clink of milk bottles being delivered, the gradual crescendo of the motor traffic along the esplanade. The bedroom they'd shared for so long was now as much his as it was hers. He was familiar with the angle of the early morning light just breaking through the drapes. And he knew it would soon be time for her to be on her way.

He dropped back to the bed beside her, pushing her gently onto her side and fitting his body behind hers. One arm pushed beneath her, elbow bent, to act as her pillow. The other arm found its place at her waist, his hand pressing down towards where his mouth had just been. She was still sleepy and he didn't hurry her. She'd be able to feel him hot and ready behind her. There were days when he felt his body was betraying him, things he'd never even thought of as requiring strength or dexterity when he was younger were slowly getting harder, but at least here in bed he still felt up to the job of being Phryne Fisher's lover - he smirked gently to himself - here harder was good and she still had the same effect on him as she ever had.

 

Phryne could feel the passing of time too. The day of her anniversary flight to England had dawned and she felt less excited than she would once have done. Not just that it wasn't a new trip any more and plenty of people had made similar feats of aviation. She had been persuaded to repeat the route she'd taken in 1929 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of that flight. It had been quite celebrated in its day, before Amelia Earhart had come along and stolen the limelight (though Phryne had found that she didn't mind that at all). The plane she'd be using was a little bigger and more stable now, a little more space for luggage and effects, but still a scrap of a thing by most standards. She stretched her legs out in the bed and knew she was going to find the cramped space in the cabin more taxing than she had done when she'd ferried her father home. And she felt Jack nestled behind her. As usual he was the thing she didn't want to leave behind but also the reason she would come home again.

He pushed forwards and used his knee to lift her leg to the right angle for his cock to push inside her. Softly stretching her just where she needed it. How had she ever entertained the idea that a little monogamy would be a bad thing? A man behind you, whether figuratively or literally, who knew exactly what you needed was almost magical. His fingers danced across her belly and settled on her nipples. She pushed back into him as he rocked her forwards. Rhythmically they met the day together.

 

Neither tongue wanted to leave the other alone but Phryne had to go. She slipped from the bed into the bathroom and came back for a final caress once she was dressed. They didn't need to use words to tell each other to stay safe, that they'd be thinking of each other. Their eyes said it all. When the door latch closed with Phryne on the far side of it, Jack held his breath for a long moment, then exhaled as he lay back down. He picked up the pillow that had spent the night beneath Phryne's head and hugged it tightly. He needed to wait here for a moment.

 

There were more people on hand than there had been at her original departure. It was news now in a way it had not been then. The plane had been wheeled out of the hangar and set ready for flight a while ago but there were people to talk to, an insistent newspaper man with a camera who wasn't going without his scoop. One lad was still messing with the engine, she knew he was trustworthy but wished he'd stop so she could be gone. The sun was higher in the sky than she wanted it to be. It crossed her mind that she could just cancel the whole affair now and go home if she wanted to. But she wouldn't. She'd be fine once she was up in the air and had the taste of the sky on her tongue again.

Finally the small crowd dispersed and she climbed up to the cockpit, looking out to the horizon just as she had done the first time she left Melbourne for England under her own power.

And there it was. The sign that she hadn't realised she'd been waiting for. A long, low slung black car approaching the airfield a little faster than it ought to be. Its driver leaving the door ajar as he jumped out and threw the keys over to one of the lads from the hangar. The lad who had been taking a little too long to check the engines over this morning. She stepped down from the cockpit and walked out to meet him. He ran towards her, loping across the grass, still lithe and athletic even though he'd reached his sixties.

"Have I forgotten something?" she asked.

He took hold of her head in a manner she was so used to and yet never tired of, strong fingers massaging her scalp as he kissed her again. Though they had already had their fill of each other in the privacy of their bedroom this morning neither of them wanted this kiss to end either.

"You've forgotten how this journey started with a kiss," he replied.

"I'm not going to ask you to come after me this time though."

"You know I would do it all over again for you."

"I know."

"But you have forgotten something," he added.

Phryne looked at him quizzically as he took her hand and led her back to the waiting plane. Her other hand rose to verify that the swallow pin was in its usual place on her scarf, it was there as always.

"Not that." Jack said as he noticed her checking.

The lad Jack had thrown his car keys to was poking at the clasp of the small luggage hold on the plane. He opened it and added a battered leather valise to the pile of packages that Phryne had already seen safely packed.

"You seem to have forgotten that you need a passenger on this journey, Miss Fisher," and Jack let go of her hand and hauled himself up into the seat in front of the cockpit.


	2. Towards Surabaya, Indonesia

Once the technicalities of take off were behind her and the countryside of Victoria was sailing past beneath the little plane Phryne had time to reflect and found that she wasn't exactly elated to have Jack usurp her passenger seat.

They'd taken many trips together over the years and her partner had proved himself a competent navigator, the observation skills that he had honed as a detective made him adept at finding the clues in unfamiliar landscapes and guiding them safely to their destination. She definitely didn’t mind having another pair of eyes in the air with her.

And it was always a delight to rediscover the version of Jack who came out when they were away from Melbourne. A version who was lighter than his home counterpart, less bound by convention and tradition. These days she was never sure if the hard Melbourne policeman's shell that she'd made such a game of cracking all those years ago was covering up this version of Jack all along, or if he'd just created his more carefree travelling persona to blend into her world. Which was the man and which was the act? Though she knew that he was happy for her to crack his shell in Melbourne too, in the most delightful ways, once they were behind closed doors.

But she hadn't been expecting him to come along on this trip and she'd been looking forward, in an odd sort of a way, to the time abroad by herself. She knew it was churlish to be put out by the last minute change but she needed to get her head in the right place. She knew that the long absences were important to their relationship, the partings and the reunions an essential part of how they'd managed to keep up their dance for such a long time. And as they grew older they each found they had less reason to leave the city and spent time apart. She knew she wasn’t bored with Jack - she’d put the idea of that ever happening behind her a long time ago now. Jack looked perfectly smug in the passenger seat, pleased with his surprise, enjoying the ride. And it had surprised her. She was glad he could still surprise her, but she wasn't sure she was happy with it.

How long would he stay with her? They had taken long trips before but after his first journey to London they had all had been on something that could be explained as detective business. Sometimes the explanation was a thin veneer but it was always there. She wondered if Jack planned to chase a criminal all the way to London. But it was more likely that he would suddenly bail out on her when a quick way to ride home became available. The idea that he would be gone as suddenly as he arrived was no more settling, even though she knew any parting always gave the opportunity for one of Jack’s kisses to remember.

It was going to be a long trip. The plane was small and required refuelling every few hours. Her time on the ground would be taken up with managing the plane and keeping it safe. And she would snatch as little sleep as she could manage to get away with during the hours of darkness. She'd been talked into making a twenty-fifth anniversary flight, and she'd jumped at the chance. She was proving to herself that she wasn't yet too old for this kind of thing, that her sense of adventure hadn't diminished with the advancing years. But she was definitely more apprehensive about this flight than the one in 1929. Then she'd had a mission - to take her father back to England - and she was doing something new and exciting. Now she was not so sure.

 

Jack sat back in his seat, enjoying the peace of the ride. He knew that Phryne needed no help with the navigation on this part of the journey. He'd flown with her across South Australia and up to the Northern Territory numerous times before.He'd be happy to help with the navigation later in the trip once their flight path led them across less familiar skies but for the early part of the journey he was content to sit and enjoy the ride. He trusted Phryne's judgement entirely.

At the first refuelling stop he jumped out to stretch his legs and empty his bladder while Phryne attended to the plane's needs. He knew the plane was always her primary concern so he wasn't surprised that she ignored him but he was surprised to find her back in her seat ready to depart when he returned just a few minutes later. From the look she gave him he was lucky that she hadn't taken off without him. This was obviously going to be a trip on a tighter schedule than he was used to.

By the time they landed in the twilight with no more than a handful of strictly factual words exchanged between them during the day he'd absorbed the fact that Phryne was rather put out by his presence. Thinking that he would best make amends by making himself useful he climbed down from the plane and went off to secure them some lodgings for the night. The small town's only hotel, just yards from the landing strip, looked austere but they had stayed here in the past and it was adequate for their needs. He knew they would be flying again at first light and the priority was to get Phryne some sleep.

He walked quickly back to the airfield where the plane had already been sheltered in the hangar. There was no sign of Phryne. His case stood by itself beside the plane.

 

Phryne knew she was being petulant but went ahead with her own plans all the same. She'd found out recently that an old nursing colleague from the first war had washed up in this backwater. Ruby had married a former RAAF aviator and they'd settled near here. She had arranged to stop the night at her old friend's house. Jack had rushed off to the hotel and not noticed Ruby's car waiting nearby, or at least not understood that it was waiting for her. Well, it wouldn't do him any harm to be surprised himself, she thought.

 

It wasn't how Jack had envisaged spending the night, with a whisky and a bed to himself, but he was certain Phryne was safe somewhere near, just grumpy at his incursion into her plans. He woke before dawn and made his way back to the airfield hoping to manage to talk with her before they flew away.

He was waiting by the plane when the car appeared and dropped her off. The vehicle was driven by a distinguished looking gentleman, Jack could tell he had a military bearing even while he was behind the wheel of the car, and he had the kind of moustache that airmen liked to wear.You don't change, Phryne Fisher, he thought to himself. But it made him smile. He didn't want Phryne to change. He didn't want to cage her, and had long ago resigned himself to the fact that other men, old friends and new, were always going to be part of his life with her. That was how they were. He had never truly understood it but he had long since come to terms with the fact that her desire to look outside their relationship was not a judgement upon him. Though she took advantage of this arrangement less and less these days. He imagined that this trip was taking her back to relive younger days in more ways than one. Normally she would have let him know beforehand, it was not quite asking permission, but perhaps he deserved to be surprised this time.

He greeted Phryne warmly and kissed her, pretending he wasn't aware of the other man watching them. Phryne did seem pleased to see him. He tried to start a conversation,

"I know you think I'm a useless piece of baggage, excess weight, on this journey. But I was rather hoping you'd find my weight at least a little welcome, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sprung it on you."

 

Phryne shook her head, it wasn't like that.She was grateful to find Jack waiting for her. An evening in the company of Ruby and her pompous ass of a husbandhad reminded her how satisfied she was with Jack, who always respected her right to make her own choices."A woman shouldn't be making a journey like this at all, and especially not at such an advanced age," she'd been told this morning as the pompous ass had tried to delay her departure. They needed to get the plane underway quickly if they were to manage to squeeze the flight into daylight hours and there wasn't time to explain to Jack now.

She was already regretting using this old plane for the trip. If only she had a more modern plane, one where the pilot and passenger could sit side by side and talk properly. But she knew this plane and its foibles well. It had felt safer to stick with what she knew. They reached the coast and refuelled to cross the sea.

 

Jack also knew the plane well. He'd picked up the charts today and was signalling the route to her even though he knew how well she knew it. It didn't hurt to keep in practice. And it staved off the boredom and distracted him from the numb feeling in his feet. Flying was serene, but it felt so much slower even as you knew you were zooming by to anyone watching on the ground. And he'd always found crossing the sea nerve-racking.

Flying was serene until it wasn't. He heard something clunk and his stomach jumped into his throat as they dropped through the air. Phryne caught an updraft and had the plane back under her control in seconds.

He realised that one reason he'd wanted to come on this journey was because of the ever-present danger it presented. If Phryne was going to ditch herself in the ocean he wanted to go down with her. There were other people who needed him, and her, but he knew that he couldn't bear to be left to mourn her. This was not the sort of thought he ought to be having over the Timor Sea and he pulled his mind back to the charts, looking for the spit of land he knew would appear ahead of them, willing it into sight before anything else could go awry with the plane.

"It was still the Dutch East Indies when I passed through in '29." Phryne commented after they'd landed safely.

"They had more trouble than we did," Jack noted referring to the fact that both Indonesia and Australia had shaken free their former colonial bonds in the time since Phryne's first trip. He was glad to find that Phryne was back to talking easily with him after the frostiness that had come before.

"Talking of trouble," she continued, "I need to get this plane looked at, the aileron misbehaving gave me a nasty scare back there. I'm concerned about the whole structure of the wing."

There was supposed to be one last leg of the journey before dark fell properly but the plane came first. Even though it wasn't a planned stopover Jack checked that finding lodging was the right task to set himself to before he went about it.

 

The extra maintenance gave them time to have a leisurely dinner together, Jack was especially fond of the spiced cuisine found in this part of the world and Phryne could see the years falling away from his face as he let himself be lost to the sensual pleasures of the dishes they shared in the small restaurant where the makeshift appearance of the furniture belied the quality of the food.

"I wish we had more time," she lamented, "to indulge ourselves like this."

"Don't we have all the time in the world?"

"We're already behind on our flight plan. We'll not have time to relax like this again."

Jack shrugged. "Why does it matter?" He was without his tie or his jacket on this warm night. Lit only by candlelight that made his eyes sparkle. Phryne realised he had shucked off his Melbourne shell. He sat back, sated by the meal, and continued, "There's a detail I haven't shared with you."

Phryne's look was quizzical, but she realised she was worried by this, how long did she have his company for? What else did they need to do besides fly?

"I have no pressing need to return to Melbourne any time soon."

"But last time you took a long leave from the police, there were all kinds of problems afterwards." She thought of how Jack had turned up in London early in 1930. How fabulous it had been to have him there but how much trouble he had had - they had both had - ensuring his career continued when they returned to Australia.

"I wasn't past retirement age then Phryne."

"But you don't want to…"

"But I did want to travel with you. And it seemed opportune to act on that desire." His voice fell lower on the word 'desire' but Phryne went on.

"So you've given it all up?"

Jack shook his head lightly. "It's not like it was then with the police. There are plenty of things I could do now if I wanted to, but what I want to do now is be here with you."

Phryne's head was spinning, in all their years together Jack had been a fixture in Melbourne. They'd had no shortage of foreign adventures buthe'd always had reason to return home, with or without her. This time he really did mean to come all the way to Europe with her.

As they settled down to sleep, Phryne cuddled in close to Jack, pulling him in for a kiss that lasted until she was beneath him. He held his body weight on his arms and looked down at her. With a flash of impish humour she reached for the ticklish spots under his arms and he had to let his body collapse on top of hers.

"Your weight is actually very welcome," she whispered in his ear, "you can be my excess baggage anytime."

 

The next morning they lay in bed awhile, enjoying each others company, knowing that the plane's repairs would not be ready straight away. Jack knew that Phryne wouldn't thank him if he delayed her too much though and they breakfasted quickly before returning to the little airfield. The repairs did not look good.

Phryne looked whimsically at the plane and Jack hoped she realised that it surely wasn't airworthy. But she began to reminisce.

"The first time I came through here, on that flight in 1929, I was heading for Surabaya, just as we are now. And, it's funny the things you remember, isn't it, when you forget so much?" Jack could only agree with that sentiment, and nodded. She continued, "I remember we had to go into the city itself for some reason, something my father needed I think, another detail that I've forgotten. I remember seeing people moving furniture around. Only not in any way I'd ever seen before." She walked closer to the plane and examined the strange way the repairs to the wing had been made. "They had piled chairs up, tables too, they made some kind of lattice structure and carried them down the street like that. Several people in a line with the furniture balanced on either side of them like a bizarre parody of aeroplane wings."

"I wonder what made you think of that now." Jack commented, looking up at the rickety plane himself, his face betraying no emotion at all to anyone who didn't understand his dry humour.

"I think those furniture movers had more chance of taking off safely than my plane does."

"So, do you have a Plan B?" Jack asked.

"No, but I'm sure I can come up with one."


End file.
